4F in the Pan and keeping powder dry

[dodgecity]

Yep, I guess I'm just going to have to face the fact that I've become a criminal. No more using my feather in public, only secretly, deep in the woods, when I am alone, or in the company of other unsavory characters. Course I could just remove the touch hole liner altogether and use a turkey feather. :haha:

 

[paulvallandigham]

There are small feathers on the breast of a turkey or pheasant that you can use to plug the vent hole.

 

[dodgecity]

Yes, I'll find a suitable substitute. It was my habit to pickup only the bluejay feathers. In addition to being perfect for my intended use, I like the pattern and coloration. Sometime in the distant past, I was also told that it was the feather that the oldtimers traditionally used, but, that may or may not be true. I'll be doing some grouse hunting after Christmas, so I look forward to seeing what suitable quills they may provide.

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

Don't use the feathers. Use the whole bird. Then if you get hasseled you just pull the Jay's beak out of the touchhole and let him fly away. No bird, no evidence. No evidence, no case! :thumbsup:

 

[musketman]

Better be careful with the Rit dye.
If you use red dye on a blue jay feather they may charge you with endangering the "Purple Jay", a bird so rare that no one has even seen one or heard of it!

Just funnin' :rotf:

PURPLY JAY

 

[roundball]

You ought to send an Email to the PA WRC and ask them outright just how spoecific / rigid is this so called law...ie: if you find a blue jay feather in the woods, etc.

Strikes me as totally absurd that the law would be implemented to that degree...I could see it if they discovered you had a stash of blue jay skins complete with feathers and were selling them or something but for it to be a problem for a law abiding, tax paying, grown man to have an incidental blue jay feather just doesn't seem plausible

 

[musketman]

You ought to send an Email to the PA WRC and ask them outright just how spoecific / rigid is this so called law...ie: if you find a blue jay feather in the woods, etc.

Strikes me as totally absurd that the law would be implemented to that degree...I could see it if they discovered you had a stash of blue jay skins complete with feathers and were selling them or something but for it to be a problem for a law abiding, tax paying, grown man to have an incidental blue jay feather just doesn't seem plausible

I have bought whole Bluejay tail feathers at a local Orvis fly fishing shop, they sell them as a fly tying material.

 

[dodgecity]

That's a good idea. I'll post any reply that I get.

 

[wildeagle]

I'll echo what paul said, I've used pheasant breast feathers for a long time now. They are a good size and three or four are always nestled in my patch box, they also muffle any noise that might be created in side.

 

[paulvallandigham]

I am not a fisherman- or, to be more exact--- I am the world's WORST fisherman. True, I am a legend in my own life. There are a couple of guys still living who, when asked if they can attest to my fishing prowess, begin to laugh maniacally! :shocked2: :rotf: :rotf:

I don't haunt fishing equipment departments in sporting goods stores, for that reason. I didn't know that you could buy feathers for tying lures there, although I did know about using squirrel tail fur- just never made the connection.

You have given me very good advice to use against prosecutors and F&WL agents the next time a client is ticketed for illegal possession of parts of a "Protected species". I can't wait to get a current list of parts you can buy commercially from " protected species" for these other purposes, and spend a long time with these exhibits, and questioning of the arresting officer on the witness stand.

 

[Len Graves]

How did we ever get so far off the original question? Oh well. In response to Paul. I have tried squirrel tails to plug the vent, but the little fellers keep pullin it out. They are also noisy and if you don't watch them they will try to eat your nuts. I guess I will not hunt in the rain any more. Might not go in the woods any more for fear of the Blue jay police. I'm depressed guess I'll go watch it snow on my lawn mower that I haven't put away yet.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Len: We have drifted off the topic, but I think its been exhausted with answers on how to keep the powder dry. These kind of open ended questions are good for new readers, and new shooters to flintlocks, but often dissolve into side issues, like this one, because of the experience of the older shooters.

I apologize to Claude for my part in drifting this off topic. :surrender: :thumbsup:

 

[Len Graves]

I agree. An apology from me also.

 

Off topic - withdrawn.

 

[Tsegoweleh]

Oatsayo,
I pretty much live with a flintlock. I load it and carry it daily when in the mountains.
I go inside, go outside, inside day and night. I leave it loaded for weeks on end. I have NEVER had a problem with the charge fouling.
I use 3f to prime and reprime daily. It has ALWAYS gone off instantainiously. I seldom plug the touch hole.

Just my experience.

 

[Twisted_1in66]

I have bought whole Bluejay tail feathers at a local Orvis fly fishing shop, they sell them as a fly tying material.

Hey Musketman,

I work for Orvis and we don't sell that because of fish and wildlife regulations. Might have been an Orvis dealer who got them somewhere else, but the Orvis Company doesn't sell those. There are really a lot of strange Fish and Wildlife regulations regarding birds. Don't get caught with a Blue Heron feather either!

Keep your powder dry!

Twisted_1in66 :thumbsup:

 

[musketman]

Might have been an Orvis dealer who got them somewhere else, but the Orvis Company doesn't sell those.

Could be, but he had them in his store, even ebay sells bluejay feathers.

Link

I guess plugging the vent with discarded feathers is for the birds... :wink:

But I digress, back to 4F in the Pan and keeping powder dry...

 

[tg]

Those are some odd looking Blue Jay feathers, we have two sub species of jays here and neither have that type of feather, Turkey feather are a good choice as if threy are not a leagal game bird in your area they are availanble as donestic birds most everywhere even in the greybar wild type color, and there are many different colored turkey feathers that will work for pluging the vent, and it is a good way to protect the main charge.

 

[Twisted_1in66]

Might have been an Orvis dealer who got them somewhere else, but the Orvis Company doesn't sell those.

Could be, but he had them in his store, even ebay sells bluejay feathers.

Link

I guess plugging the vent with discarded feathers is for the birds... :wink:

But I digress, back to 4F in the Pan and keeping powder dry...

Yes, those are the jay feathers that would be used for fly tying if you can find them. They were used for tying full-dressed, feather wing, Atlantic Salmon Flies. People only tie those flies for display now-a-days. I can guarantee you that those didn't come out of our Orvis warehouse.

Some of the F&W regs on feathers are pretty weird. Some feathers are prohibited from anyone possessing. Some are prohibited from selling over state lines but can be possessed within the state, and some can be possessed and sold within the US, but can't be exported. It's a really tangled web of regulations.

Another "for instance", you can't import/export duck feathers unless they can be certified as coming from "hunted birds". That doesn't make a lot of sense, but there you go. A lot of the flies that Orvis sells can't be shipped internationally because of those F&W regs.

I'll see if I can find out some specifics about the regs that refer to them. Most of the regs about fur and feathers are really old and have little or no relevance to today's conditions. Certainly the intent of the law wasn't to prohibit us from picking up a feather to plug the vent of our flintlocks with.

I'll do a little research and see what I can find out.

Twisted_1in66 :thumbsup:

Private message me with the results, thanks: Musketman

 

[musketman]

Since we are waaaaaaaaaay off topic here and Im the one that started the diversion, I think. (sorry about that chief) I will close this thread and we can move on.